ORONO- The University of Maine men’s basketball team put five players in double figures on Friday night, and cruised past visiting Columbia University 93-70 in a game played at Memorial Gymnasium (The Pit).
Columbia had two leads very early before Maine took control and took the lead for good. Down 7-4, the Black Bears ran off 13 straight points finished off by a steal and dunk by Kellen Tynes for a 10 point advantage. The hosts led by as many as 16 in the first half and 45-32 at the halftime break on 59% shooting. The Lions snuck back into the game in the opening minutes of the second half. A layup by Kenny Noland sliced it to 48-41 with still over 17 minutes to play. Maine regained control with a quick four points to push it back to 11 on a jumper by Ja’Shon Wright-McLeish and a layup by Tynes off a beautiful feed from Milos Nenadic and weren’t challenged after that. The lead would grow to as many as 23 which was the final margin, giving the Black Bears their first two game win streak over Division I opponents since the end of the 2019-20 season.
Tynes led the way with a game-high 21 points. Peter Filipovity had 17 points and six rebounds, Jayden Clayton and Gedi Juozapaitis had 16 points a piece, and Wright-McLeish finished with 11. Clayton also added five rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Maine ended up 62.5% from the floor, 11-18 from three-point range (61%), and 12-15 at the foul line. The Black Bears are off to their first 3-1 start since the 2013-2014 campaign. Avery Brown led Columbia in the loss with 17 points, Noland had 16, and Zine Eddine Bedri had 12 points. The Lions out of the Ivy League fall to 1-4. Maine heads back out on the road on Wednesday afternoon when they face Central Connecticut State out of the Northeast Conference at 3:30 p.m.
